50 degrees below zero! The North Pole becomes a "bitter and cold place" in winter. How do Eskimos live in the polar regions?

The Arctic and Antarctic are among the places with the worst environmental conditions in this region. There are no settlers in Antarctica, but Eskimos live in the Arctic all the year round. Studies show that Eskimos have lived in isolation in the Arctic Circle of North America for 4000 years.

Although some places colder than the Arctic also have permanent residents, such as Oymyakon, Russia, where the historical extreme low temperature is -7 1.2℃ and the winter temperature in the Arctic is around -50℃, we should know that these permanent residents moved there in the recent 100-200 years, and they have modern facilities, such as electricity, natural gas and coal. There is also the local food trade, so don't worry about the source of food.

In contrast, the living conditions of Eskimos are much worse. They have lived here for 4000 years without any modern heating equipment or even fire. They are backward in tools and lack of resources. In winter, there is almost no food to hunt in the Arctic, but like a miracle, they are still alive in such a difficult environment.

Then the question is, how did the Eskimos survive for 4000 years in such a harsh environment and such a lack of resources?

Eskimos are also called people who eat raw meat. In fact, eating raw meat is the secret of their survival in the Arctic.

For half a year, the Arctic region was in an extreme night environment, with low annual average temperature and very bad light and heat conditions, so it was impossible to develop agriculture and animal husbandry here. In winter, the vegetation here is covered with heavy snow, making it difficult to develop the gathering industry. The local people can only make a living by hunting.

In summer, the Arctic will be extremely bright, the temperature will rise, some ice and snow will melt, plants will start to grow, and some animals will come to the Arctic to feed and multiply. At this time, it is the season when Eskimos eat the most. They can catch migrating spawning fish and hunt reindeer. Reindeer are huge, and killing one can make Eskimos eat for two or three days. Eskimos will also pick up puffins' eggs on the cliffs and catch a large number of puffins to make pickled puffins. Pickled puffins are smelly, but they can store food that can't be eaten when there is enough food in summer until food is scarce.

In winter, Eskimos will face food shortage, rivers and seas will freeze and there will be no fish to catch; Mammals and birds have also returned to the south, and the North Pole has really become a "bitter and cold place"; In order to better cope with the environment, Eskimos will live in groups, and several families will form a big family and live in an igloo to keep out the cold.

Although the igloo is made of ice, there is no gap in the igloo, which can effectively block the invasion of cold air. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the igloo is very poor, so the heat generated in the igloo can be kept in the igloo as much as possible, which plays a good role in keeping warm.

Eskimos live in igloos and light an oil lamp, which is a luxury. Because there are no plants in the Arctic, people can't make a fire with plants. Eskimos will extract seal fat from hunting and use it for ignition. Although the seal oil lamp is very weak, it can also generate some heat by burning continuously for 24 hours, so that the temperature in the igloo can be maintained between MINUS several degrees and ten degrees.

The entrance to the igloo is very narrow, which can minimize heat loss and resist the attack of polar bears.

The temperature in the Arctic is very low in winter, so many people will avoid going out in winter. However, Eskimos must go out hunting in winter, otherwise they can't survive. In order to keep warm, Eskimo women sew fur clothes and waterproof boots. For the whole family. The raw materials of clothes are all kinds of animal fur, and needles and threads are also made by ourselves. The needle is made of picked reindeer bones, while the thread is cut into filaments from seal skin.

Eskimo women have to learn to sew clothes from their mothers and grandmothers since childhood, while boys have to learn hunting knowledge from their fathers since childhood.

Put on the thick clothes sewn at home, and the men went out hunting. In winter, the main prey of Eskimos is seals, which are mammals and live in the ocean. They float to the surface to breathe every once in a while.

In winter, the Arctic Ocean is frozen, and seals leave breathing holes in the weak cracks of the ice. Polar bears will guard breathing holes and wait for seals to attack each other when they appear, so seals will leave many breathing holes, but they will only hunt from one breathing hole, reducing the probability of being attacked by natural enemies.

In order to hunt, Eskimos will guard a breathing hole, so that no matter which breathing hole the seal comes out of, it has a chance to hunt. After the hunting is successful, Eskimos will take it into the igloo and share it with everyone. Sharing is the key to people's survival in the Arctic. Because of the harsh environment in the Arctic, even the best hunters can't guarantee to get food every day, so they have to live in groups. But at the same time, because of the lack of food in the Arctic, the number of people living in groups should not be too large, about 10-20. No matter who gets the food, others can share it.

The food just hunted is still warm, and Eskimos will eat it raw while it is "hot". If the food is stored for too long, it will be difficult to chew because the outside temperature is too cold, so the food stored for too long should be thawed indoors.

Eskimos have poor living conditions and backward tools, but they have lived in the Arctic for thousands of years with their own wisdom. Although some Eskimos have left the polar regions and some remain here, their living conditions have improved a lot with modern facilities.

# Arctic # # Eskimo # # Food #